Improvement in water-wheels



No. 42,708. PATENTED MAY 1o, 1864.

- W.WH1T E WATER W /lil new UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE..

WALD() WHITNEY, OF MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

IMPROVEMENT IN WATER-WH EELS.

splfcincnnon forming Imhof Letters Patent No. 42,703, dated May4 1o, ia64.

To al@ whom it may concern:

Be 1t known that I, WALno- WHITNEY, of

Manchester, in the county of Hillsborough and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in W :iter-Wheels; and I do hereby declare that the same are described and represented in the following specification and drawings.

The nature of my invention and improve' ments in water-wheels consists in a peculiarshaped bucket or float, 'in combination with an inverted conical center, and in a concave 'disk or basin varound the wheel, provided with guides or chutes to direct the water tangentially against the wheel; also, in a cylindrical gate arranged between the curband the wheel, and tted to traverse cirnlarlyaround the wheel and open and close the chutes or apertures that supply the wheel with water.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my improvements, I will proceed to. describe their construction and operation, ref

ferring to the accompanying drawings, in which the same letters indicate like parts in eachot' the figures. Figure l is a plan or top view, one-half of the case and one-fourth lof the cover being omit-ted to show the interior. Fig. 2isa section ot' Fig. l, cut perpendicularly through the center. Fig. 3 is a portion of the curb which surrounds the'wheel, -fwith a portion of the gate, which is between the curb and the wheel.

In these drawings, A is the base or bottom traine, provided with an adjustable pivot, B,

' furthe shaft C of the Wheel D to turn,.as The top and center iof thenearly radial.' They then curveeso as to join the lower end ot' tliegcoue nearly in a tangent, while thatjparoi the Boat below-the cone extends downwa'rdand 'backward' beyond'thepjpeudicnlar p`art of the next float, and is inclinedand curvednoutward andjoined othe'hbop G.

H is a concave disk or basin surrounding the wheel, and supported bythe standards I I from the frame A. This disk H has an opening in the center just large enough for the hoop G of the wheel to turn freely in, and the top of the hoop should be just even with the inside of the bottom ofthe basin. The cylindrical cnrbJ surrounds the Wheel and lis fast. ened to or cast with the basin H, and is providedwith a cover, K, to keep the water from the top ot' the wheel or inverted cone E. This curb J is provided with long perpendicular openings, J f, through which the water passes onto the wheel, and there are guides L L, either curved orstraight, fastened to the sides of the openings and to the basin,- forming chutes M, `.which direct the watertangentially onto the wheel or against the floats, so as greatly to increase the power of the wheel in proportion to'the quantity of water expended. The curb J is made enough larger than the wheel to permit the cylindrical gate N to rotate betweenthc curb and the wheel. This gate N Ais tted to the inside ot' theeurb and rests on ,the basin H, and is .provided with openings N, corresponding with the openings in the curb. for the water to pass through onto the Wheel. The gateN isprovided witha rack of teeth, '1), which project through an opening in the sideof the curb, and may be acted on by a pinion, to rotate the gate and open and close the openingsin the curb through which the water lpasses onto the wheel. The form of the frame A is shown by dotted-lines in Fig. 1, and also the ibrm of tlie`ioat F, as seen perpendicularl'y.l

Q is a top case covering the wheel and basin H, to receive and hold the water over the basin and Wheel. The water enters the case Q through an opening, the sides of which opening are shown at R R in the drawings.

With my improvements a part or fraction ot the water may be applied to the Wheel with nearer aproportionate v'result to the whole than upon any other0 turbine or reaction wheel known to me.

I believe I have described and represented my improvements in water-wheels so as to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use them Without further invention or experiment. I will no.7 state what I desire to secure by Letters Patent, viz

1. In combination with the peculiarlylshaped. floats F, the inverted conical center traverse circularly around. the wheel and. E and boop G, to which the floats are fastened'. open and close the chutes or apertures which 2. In combination with the concave disk or suppiy water to thewheel. basin 'around the wheel, the stationary guides l WALDO WHITNEY L and chutes M, to direct the watelonto the wheel, substantially as described. Witnesses: A

3. The cyindrical gate N, arranged be- ISAAC -RIDDLE, J,

,tween the curb and the Wheel anufitted to B. i?. CLLLEY. L 

